Marshall Re-valve

My Marshall 30th Anniversary finally needs to be re-valved after a good four years of use… Not bad huh!? After replacing the stock valves in my Blackstar with some original SED Svetlana Winged C’s I’m gonna do the same again with the Marshall, these are fantastic sounding valves!!! Now my 30th was fitted with 6L6’s from the factory, Marshall did this in the 1990’s when decent EL34’s were in scant supply. Many users decided to modify their amps to EL34’s later after production became more reliable and widely available, however I like the sound the 6L6’s give so I’m sticking with them for this replacement.

I’ve ordered the Winged C’s from Watford Valves who guarantee they are original Svets which pre-date the New Sensor take over, you can see them here. Many valve aficionados say that the current production valves are no where near as good as the originals in both quality and sound. I’ll post up another project report once they arrive, however and this is a big however, upon reading up how to bias a 30th anniversary I’m seriously thinking about taking it to Essex Amp Repairs. General consensus around the internet is that biasing is no easy task when dealing with a 30th! As I said in my Blackstar report basically if you don’t know what your doing take your amp to someone qualified. Once I open her up and take a look inside I shall decide whether to stick with my own advice!